Friday, April 30, 2010

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 29 (acn) The Cuban Telecommunications Enterprise (ETECSA) announced on Thursday the extension for another month of a promotion under which locals who activate a line during that period receive a credit of $20 in pre-paid minutes.

Cuban News Agency

The promotion will be in force until May 31, according to the company's announcement.

Activation costs for cell phones in Cuba have dropped from an original 120 cuc to a current 40 cuc.

Local cell phone users will enjoy significant cost savings as the company recently made public new rates beginning May 3 for international calls, with a drop by 42 percent to 75 depending on the destination. The rate of national calls made from 11:00 pm to 6:59 am was also reduced from around $0.40 to $0.10 per minute. Likewise the collect-call service will be activated.

ETECSA is predicting that the number of wireless subscribers on the island will exceed one million by the end of 2010 and this figure is expected to be doubled up by 2015.

Cell phones subsidized by the government have also been distributed to people who live in remote areas where conditions make it too difficult to install landlines.

Cuba has invested some $150 million since 2003 to develop the local cellular phone industry, ETECSA's vice president of mobile services, Maximo Lafuente, told Prensa Latina news agency.

In Raul Castro's Cuba, A Limit On New Freedomsby Nick MiroffApril 30, 2010

Since President Raul Castro took over the country's leadership, there has been a greater openness to public criticism — within limits — in the one-party system. But for those who go too far or organize against the government, the response is swift and sometimes ugly.

Last Sunday, six older women dressed in white walked out of their Havana church after Mass and attempted to march, carrying pink flowers. They're part of a larger group that has been doing this every week since 2003, when their loved ones were jailed in a political crackdown.

In Cuba, it is the closest thing to a public protest against the government. But this month, things changed.

A plainclothes government agent ordered the women to stop their march, and when they argued, he walked away. Then a crowd of government supporters charged in.

The group of women, known as the Ladies in White, shouted "libertad" — "freedom" — as dozens of pro-Castro counter-demonstrators surrounded them. The counter-demonstrators shoved the women, ripped up their flowers and screamed in their faces, calling them mercenaries, traitors and worms.

Under Raul Castro, Cubans have more opportunities to vent. But the government has not tolerated open protests against the government.

The crowd pushed the women into a nearby park and circled them to prevent their escape, chanting "Fidel, Fidel." Plainclothes government agents with earpieces and aviator sunglasses stood nearby, directing the crowd and intervening when things got too rough.

A few passing Cubans stopped to watch, but they neither joined in nor interfered.

Greater Freedom Of Expression

Cuba has done more under Raul Castro to let its citizens vent frustrations. Raul took over Cuba's leadership in 2006 because of the illness of his brother, Fidel Castro, and officially took over as president in 2008.

Letters to the editor and essays in the state media now openly denounce corruption or call for market-style reforms. Prominent artists and scholars are publicly urging changes. Last weekend, a popular hip-hop group with harshly critical lyrics was granted unusual permission to perform at an official venue.

But some Cubans say the signs of openness are misleading.

Cosmetic Changes

"There's no space for people who really think differently," said a Cuban bystander in a city park who said his name is Eduardo. "The changes are merely cosmetic," he said. "They're for people who already think the same."

There no longer appears to be a place for the Ladies in White, who are the wives and mothers of jailed government opponents. Last month, they staged a week of daily marches, drawing international support for their cause.

But for the past three Sundays in a row, the government has blocked them, sending a stern message with counter-demonstrators, like Aracely Keeling, who carry out what are called acts of repudiation against the women.

"I'm here because I'm a Cuban citizen, and these women are trying to incite the rest of the country," Keeling said. "They're paid by the United States to form part of a media campaign against the Cuban people."

The Cuban government has released documents that it says show the Ladies in White have received financial help and support from U.S. officials and anti-Castro militants in Florida.

Countering The Demonstrators

The Ladies in White get no sympathy from Maria Elena Martinez, who was red-faced and hoarse from shouting at them.

"These people are criminals; they're the scum of this country," Martinez said. "They're only here because they know they can get the attention of the foreign media. They're just using you to create this whole circus."

On that Sunday, the counter-demonstrators chanted "Cuba Si, Yanqui No!" as the harassment against the Ladies in White went on for seven hours.

The women didn't go to the bathroom, and they did not sit down. They just stood, staring straight ahead. And while their numbers have been dwindling each week, they say they are going to try to march again Sunday.

Travellers who do not have proof of insurance coverage may be required to obtain health insurance from a Cuban insurance company when they arrive.Travellers who do not have proof of insurance coverage may be required to obtain health insurance from a Cuban insurance company when they arrive. (Scott Heppell/Associated Press)

Canadians travelling to Cuba will be required to present proof of health insurance to enter the country as of Saturday.

To meet the requirement, travellers should have travel insurance that covers medical expenses, the Cuban government said.

"Upon arrival, travellers may be required to present an insurance policy, insurance certificate, or medical assistance card valid for the period of their stay in Cuba," Foreign Affairs says in its travel report for the country.

"Those who do not have proof of insurance coverage may be required to obtain health insurance from a Cuban insurance company when they arrive."

Canadians visitors carrying only provincial government health insurance cards will have to pay Cuban hospitals, doctors or other providers in full at the time of treatment and then seek reimbursement from their provincial plans, which normally cover only a fraction of the charges.

Some private insurers also require the traveller to pay costs up front and be reimbursed later, Foreign Affairs noted.

All health insurance policies will be recognized except those issued by U.S. insurance companies, which cannot provide coverage in Cuba.

Provincial health plans also strongly urge residents to purchase supplemental travel insurance for any trips they make out of the country. Provincial plans also do not cover the cost of ground ambulance in Cuba or repatriation back to Canada on commercial airlines or air ambulance.

"People do need to have supplementary insurance, either purchasing coverage through their employer or employer benefit plan or on a credit card," Martha Turnbull, president of the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada (THIA), said in an interview.

The association also encouraged Canadians to get a letter from their insurance company or employer stating they do have coverage.

Turnbull suggested Canadians also consider insuring their travel arrangements since getting home early from Cuba or cancelling a trip can be expensive.

WASHINGTON — Cuba must pay the United States six billion dollars in compensation for expropriated businesses and property before Washington lifts a decades-old trade embargo, a US lawmaker said Thursday.

"We must resolve the over six billion dollars in expropriation claims... before developing a more robust economic relationship with a post-Castro democratic government in Cuba," said Kevin Brady, a Republican US representative from the state of Texas, speaking at a congressional hearing on US trade with Cuba.

Brady's remarks come after a top Cuban official last week challenged the United States to lift its punishing economic embargo against Havana.

Cuba's National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcon pressed Washington to "lift it, even for a year, to see whether it is in our interest or theirs."

After coming to power in 1959, Cuban leader Fidel Castro nationalized numerous US enterprises in the name of the communist revolution.

In 1972, the value of Cuba's expropriated US property was estimated to be worth about 1.8 billion dollars, according to a US government panel that examined the issue.

That sum has grown more than three-fold over the years because of compounding interest, set at an annual rate of six percent.

The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States (FCSC), the independent, quasi-judicial federal agency under the aegis of the US Department of Justice, is tasked with determining the monetary value of claims by US nationals for loss of overseas property as a result of nationalization or military operations.

At Thursday's hearing, the US Chamber of Commerce and non-governmental organizations including the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) argued in favor of relaxing trade restrictions against Havana.

Brady said he was "open to loosening some restrictions on Cuba," but only after the US government and private American interests divested of their property after the revolution were compensated.

President Barack Obama came into office seeking better relations with Cuba, but after an initial thaw, tensions have set in again, most recently over Cuba's treatment of dissidents.

HAVANA — Cuba's underground hip hop duo "Los Aldeanos" are boldly grooving where no Cuban has gone in five decades: criticizing the communist government loud and proud for the first time to a sell-out crowd.

"They tell the truth, say the things we feel, the things that a lot of Cubans cannot say. The freedom that we do not have," explained Yoelvis Fonseca, a 27-year-old construction worker, as he sweated and swayed to the beat of the rhyming twosome that recently packed the Acapulco movie theatre with more than 2,000 rabid fans.

True, this event was not advertised in state-controlled media.

And even the sign in lights outside the Acapulco disjointedly read "Today, Sherlock Holmes."

But the word was on the street, and the under-30s were in the house for the first major show by the dissident duo who have been around -- stealthy and not wealthy -- for seven years.

They called the show "Seven years with the village," and maybe because the venue was huge, they held off singing their underground hits most critical of life in Cuba.

Los Aldeanos -- which means villagers, but is a riff on one member's name -- have come a long way, baby.

In the only communist country in the Americas, where confronting the government can be a ticket to prison, they have hit it big taking on the government, corruption and giving voice to Cubans' everyday frustrations.

Their rhymes -- they sing in Spanish -- are direct and pull no punches, with lines like: "I can't stand one more lie," and "All of this/one day will change/for the good of the people."

And it gets hotter in this country with a one-party regime and a leadership dominated by officials well over 70: "I'm from a chilling society/that listens with piety/to the same people who have gagged it/with a bag of fake freedom," one Los Aldeanos line goes.

Another classic for fans: "So many are dead/or in jail/people would rather die for the American dream/than live through this Cuban nightmare."

Tattooed friends Bian Rodriguez (El B) and Aldo Rodriguez (El Aldeano) first got their act together back in 2003, playing mainly in Havana's dingy underground rap halls as well as parks and the odd cultural event.

But the Acapulco theatre gig was a landmark, as the group and its fans pushed the envelope. For now, the government did not push back.

For the Aldeanos, however, the crux of the group's political viewpoint is that they need to speak out, to say something, but they are not interested in leaving Cuba.

"Talking about what is happening here is the way that we take part in the Revolution," El B says. "Criticizing in Miami makes no sense; this is where the (expletive) is hitting the fan."

Riviere went out on a limb insisting that "Miami and Washington have tried to manipulate what Los Aldeanos are. We have spent a long time explaining that they are not counter-revolutionaries."

Aldo himself insists in one line, "I am not a communist; nor am I a socialist; nor am I a Leninist; I am a Revolutionary." It is a masterful spin on the everyday wordplay of the government which constantly implores everyone to be just that -- "revolutionary".

The duo are rhyming as if to see if there is any reaction to their not being communists, as long as they are with the Revolution -- the regime that has been in place since 1959 and was led by Fidel Castro for more than 40 years.

And their 18 CDs -- such as "Censored" and "Viva Cuba Libre" -- are sold widely on the black market in Cuba.

Though some clubs refused to let them play, Los Aldeanos also have played with the likes of mainstream artist Pablo Milanes, and won some national prizes.

Occasionally a radio station will play one of their less critical numbers.

"I am a fan because they sing about what the people are going through," said Yamel Gonzalez, who at 26 is getting ready to start at university. "People's words cannot be a crime."

Among the 200 people unable to get into the concert was a young man in a black T-shirt, jeans and earrings who asked not to be named.

"They are really ballsy," he said, referring to the rappers, "because they talk about the way things really are: that there is a dictatorship."

HAVANA: Nearly every eligible Cuban cast ballots in a vote the CommunistGovernment claims is proof of the island's democracy.

But if headlines were made, it was by six elderly women standing underan ancient ficus tree, enduring seven hours of insults and obscenitiesfor demanding political prisoners be freed.

Cuba complains the foreign media makes way too much of a small, divideddissident movement that has little sway with ordinary people. But theGovernment has helped draw attention to the women - known as the Damasde Blanco, or Ladies in White - by choosing, with no explanation, tostart blocking their small weekly protests after seven years oftolerating them.

In another sign of crackdown, an independent journalist with ties to theLadies in White was sentenced to 20 months in prison for allegedlymistreating her adult daughter.

Dania Virgen Garcia was arrested on April 20 and sentenced three dayslater after her daughter - apparently angry at her mother's criticism ofthe Communist Government - filed a complaint, said Elizardo Sanchez,head of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and NationalReconciliation, citing information from friends of the detained journalist.CCID: 31622

Sanchez said he suspects - but cannot prove - that Garcia was targetedsince she is a supporter of the Damas de Blanco, or Ladies in White,whose regular Sunday march has been blocked by Cuban Governmentsupporters for the past three weeks. He said he would need several daysto obtain the necessary documents clarifying her arrest.

Garcia, who filed internet dispatches in defiance of Government controlson all Cuban media, was being held at a high-security women's prison inHavana and is unreachable, Sanchez said.

There was no answer yesterday at the home of Laura Pollan, a foundingmember of the Ladies in White. Cuba's Government had no immediate comment.

After years of obscurity, the women have become a cause celebre amongCuban-American exiles in the United States. The move to quash theirprotests has many in Washington wondering if Havana is trying to scuttlerelations that seemed on the mend just months ago.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Fidel and Raul Castro could becreating a crisis because they don't want the US to drop the embargo,which she said gives them a convenient excuse for their revolution'sfailures.

Ricardo Alarcon, head of Cuba's Parliament, scoffed at the notion.

"Mrs Clinton is a very intelligent woman and I don't want to be rudewith her," Alarcon said. "If she really believes the continuation of theembargo is in the benefit of our government, it's very simple for her toask Congress to lift the embargo."

Cuba urged to respect press freedom as repression of journalists intensifies30 April 2010

Amnesty International today called on the Cuban authorities to endharassment of independent journalists following a month in which severalreporters were arbitrarily detained and intimidated for criticizing thegovernment.

"Journalists who try to work independently of the state-owned mediaoutlets in Cuba are being targeted with repressive tactics and spuriouscriminal charges - and this clampdown on freedom of expression appearsto be intensifying," said Susan Lee, Amnesty International's AmericasDirector, ahead of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May.

Journalist Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias remains in detention after beingarrested on 23 April by security officials who broke into the housewhere he was covering a memorial service for a prisoner of conscience.Orlando Zapata Tamayo had died two months earlier after several weeks onhunger strike in protest against the plight of prisoners of consciencein Cuba.

Another journalist described the campaign of intimidation waged againsthim as "psychological torture". Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, the directorof an online independent newspaper, was detained on 24 April andquestioned for over six hours over anti-government graffiti found in thecity of Holguin.

Meanwhile, news agency director Carlos Serpa Maceira was subjected tointimidation and harassment by the Cuban authorities when he tried tocover the weekly march by the activist group Damas de Blanco (Ladies inWhite) on three consecutive weekends in April.

Members of the Damas de Blanco have been repeatedly harassed andintimidated by government supporters, and their weekly demonstrationswere forcibly broken by police on at least two occasions.

"Criminal charges, or other forms of harassment and intimidation, mustnot be brought against independent journalists, human rights advocatesor political dissidents as a result of their legitimate exercise offreedom of expression," said Susan Lee.

There are currently 55 prisoners of conscience detained in Cuba, most ofthem serving long sentences for criticizing the Cuban government andadvocating basic human rights. Among them are several independentjournalists.

Several articles of the Cuban Constitution and Penal Code are so vaguethat the authorities have been able to use them in a way that infringesfreedom of expression. The Cuban State also maintains a total control ofbroadcast media and the press, while access to the internet is heavilyrestricted.

"As a result of these restrictions on freedom of expression, Cubans areunable to share independent information without facing direct repressionfrom the authorities," said Susan Lee.

"Restrictions on access to the internet should be lifted and censorshipof websites containing information and views contrary to governmentpolicies must be eliminated."

Amnesty International has urged the Cuban authorities to review alllegal provisions that unlawfully limit freedom of expression and torelease all prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally.

Caracas, Venezuela (AHN) - Venezuela's socialist president Hugo Chavez is urging Cuba's Fidel Castro to join him in using the social networking site Twitter. Chavez himself already has 120,00 followers after only three days using the service.

Venezuela witnessed a dramatic rise in people using Twitter last year and Chavez once a vocal critic of social networking sites is now one of its staunchest supporters. He's said recently that Twitter allows him a way to combat critics of his government.

His invitation to Tweet also went out to Bolivian leader Evo Morales another ally who shares his anti-American sentiment.

U.S. president Barack Obama is one of the top ten most followed on Twitter with nearly 3.8 million followers. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is the next most popular head of state with 1.7 million followers.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Posted on Thursday, 04.29.10Cuban air charter case sent to Fla. state courtThe Associated Press

MIAMI -- A Miami woman's attempt to force air charter companies to pay a $27 million legal judgment owed to her by the Cuban government has been bounced from federal to state court.

U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno agreed Wednesday with Ana Margarita Martinez that the matter should be handled at the state level. The charter companies wanted Moreno to intervene.

Martinez was awarded damages in 2001 after claiming in a lawsuit that she was tricked into marrying a Cuban man who later turned out to be a spy. To satisfy the judgment, her lawyers want to collect fees that eight U.S. air charter companies pay to Cuba for rights to land there.

Cuba has ignored the lawsuit. The charter companies claim paying the fees would put them out of business.

Cuba to increase refining capacity to 350,000 barrels a dayPublished on Thursday, April 29, 2010

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Hector Pernia, chief executive of the PDVSA-Cuba joint venture said the Cuban oil refining system is designed to process 350,000 barrels a day, a capacity Cuba will reach once the joint investment works are concluded.

This will guarantee steady supplies of oil derivates to every Caribbean island and the PetroCaribe (integration mechanism in the energy field) member countries, said Pernia, according to local 5 de Septiembre newspaper's website.

The investment program includes the setting up of a new plant to refine 150 000 barrels a day in Matanzas city (in the northern coast, while Cienfuegos is in the south)

At the same time, the Cienfuegos refinery will increase its capacity from 65 000 to 150 000, and the one located in Santiago de Cuba (eastern Cuba) will move up from 22 to 50 000.

The Cienfuegos refinery has averaged 59 000 barrels a day since the beginning of 2008, said Pernia.

This industry, created by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) is the core of a petrochemical development pole in Cienfuegos.

As part of the mega project, Cienfuegos port renovation is in the final stages, as well as a gas pipeline that joins that city with the super tanker base in Matanzas, said Pernia.

Another Cuba-Venezuela joint venture newly created is in charge of the construction of an ammoniacal and urea processing plant, announced Pernia.

Cuba accused the German foundation Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) of maintaining close ties with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the official daily Granma said Wednesday.

Granma reported that the KAS recently organized a conference in Brussels entitled "Cuba-EU Policy: Between Pragmatism and Values," attended mostly by CIA agents and experts in Latin America.

"Clearly we are in the presence of another intervention of the U.S. intelligence service in the field of global politics in Europe," Granma said.

The newspaper cited the Venezuelan-American researcher Eva Golinger, who revealed that since the 1960s, the KAS has been striving to isolate and undermine the Cuban Revolution.

Golinger said the foundation is closely linked with the Cuban American National Foundation and the Center for a Free Cuba, both largely funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a Washington-based non-profit organization supported by the U.S. national budget.

The KAS was founded in 1956 and belongs to the German Christian Democratic Union. It has an annual budget of 100 million euros.

Granma added that amount allows the KAS to finance political parties, NGOs, or any organization that promotes the interests of the international right-wing, which is supported by the United States.

Posted on Thursday, 04.29.10Arrested, tried, jailed -- in less than 2 daysThe jailing of a Cuban dissident arrested in an apparent family dispute was called `political repression' by human rights activists.BY JUAN O. TAMAYOjtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com

Dissident Cuban journalist Dania Virgen García apparently struck her 23-year old daughter during a fight. In less than 48 hours, she was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Havana human rights activist Elizardo Sánchez said Wednesday he'll need a week or two to thoroughly investigate the arrest of García, 41, who also marched often in support of the Ladies in White.

But Sánchez said he has a strong hunch: ``It could well be a case of political repression, taking advantage of a family situation.''

That's not uncommon, he added, in a country where the government can easily drum up an array of criminal charges against opponents of the communist system.

Sánchez said he obtained preliminary information on the case after his Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation sent an investigator to the Havana home García shared with her daughter, Suzy, and 2-year-old nephew.

``The daughter was reticent to speak, but the family seemed to be hostile to [García's] dissident activities,'' he said. ``She said her mother was properly sent to jail because of abuses . . . She also said maybe there [in prison] she would change her dissident activities.''

The daughter also told the investigators that she ``argued a lot'' with her mother, and indicated that at some point the mother struck her, Sánchez told El Nuevo Herald via telephone from Havana.

García was arrested April 22, apparently on charges of ``abuse of maternal authority'' and the next day was tried, convicted and sentenced to 20 months in prison. Sánchez said. She was sent to the country's largest prison for women, Manto Negro.

In Miami, Carmen Ferreiro, a member of a group that supports dissidents and has contracted a Havana lawyer to appeal García's case, said she also had information the family was ``very pro-government.''

Sánchez said he has been unable to locate the court documents in the case. El Nuevo Herald called García's home several times, but no one answered.

García is not among Cuba's better known dissidents, but she has been active as an independent journalist, blogger and member of the Ladies in Support -- women who often march with the Ladies in White, female relatives of some of the 75 dissidents jailed in a 2003 clampdown.

Some of her dispatches have been published in Miscelaneas de Cuba, Primavera Digital and CubaNet, all exile-based groups that post the work of independent journalists in online pages.

García's blog, daniavirgengarcía.blogspot.com, is supported by Ferreiro's Center for Human Rights and Democracy, established by veterans of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.

``Things in Cuba are not well at all, but I am going to continue this struggle to the death or until whatever they want happens; I will continue to support the Ladies in White, even if they continue to beat us, because what they want is for us to be afraid and we are not going to allow that to happen,'' García wrote in a recent post.

García's incarceration was condemned in a Wall Street Journal editorial Tuesday that called it ``the clearest sign to date of the regime's desperation in the face of popular discontent.'' The Inter American Press Association issued a statement condemning the arrest and noting that García appears to be the only woman among the 26 journalists currently jailed in Cuba.

HAVANA -- An independent Cuban journalist with ties to the Ladies in White dissident group has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for allegedly mistreating her adult daughter, a veteran island human rights leader said Thursday.

Dania Virgen Garcia was arrested on April 20 and sentenced three days later after her daughter - apparently angry at her mother's criticism of the communist government - filed a complaint, Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said, citing information from friends of the detained journalist.

In a telephone interview, Sanchez said that he did not know the exact charges against her or the nature of the alleged mistreatment.

Sanchez said he suspects - but cannot prove - Garcia was targeted since she is a supporter of the Damas de Blanco, or Ladies in White, whose regular Sunday march has been blocked by Cuban government supporters for the past three weeks in a row. He said he would need several days to obtain the necessary documents clarifying her arrest.

Garcia, who filed Internet dispatches in defiance of government controls on all Cuban media, is being held at a high-security women's prison in Havana and is unreachable, Sanchez said.

There was no answer Thursday at the home of Laura Pollan, a founding member of the Ladies in White. Cuba's government had no immediate comment.

Sanchez said Garcia is a supporter but not a member of the group, comprising wives and mothers of 75 community organizers, independent journalists and political opposition activists who were arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison terms in March 2003. Fifty-three remain behind bars.

The government claims that those imprisoned have conspired with Washington to topple the island's communist system, charges that both they and U.S. officials deny.

Nearly every Sunday for seven years, the Damas have dressed in white and marched down a sidewalk along swank Fifth Avenue in Havana, usually without incident. But in March, the group held a week of demonstrations in other parts of the city, which provoked protests by government supporters and drew the attention of international news media.

Footage of the protesters being roughly bundled onto a bus at one of the events led to sympathy demonstrations in Miami and Los Angeles.

On April 11, the women were blocked from staging their traditional Fifth Avenue demonstration as well: State security agents told them they were not allowed to protest because they never obtained permission to do so, while a mob shouting pro-government slogans helped stop them.

During the past two Sundays, the women refrained from marching but stood near their usual route, withstanding hours of shouted insults and obscenities from counter-demonstrators who had been carefully organized and dispatched in shifts by the government.

Their weekly march had been one of the few regular expressions of dissent the government tolerated. Cuban leaders do not recognize Sanchez's human rights commission, but largely allow it to operate.

The commission says Cuba holds about 200 political prisoners, not counting Garcia.

The government says it holds none and protects human rights better than most countries by providing its citizens with free health care and education as well as subsidized housing, utilities, transportation and basic food.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Riyadh -- The Saudi Minister of Finance, Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, who is also Chairman of Board of Directors of The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), and Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz signed here on Tuesday a soft-loan agreement worth SR 75 million to be provided by the Fund for renovating and equipping a number of maternity hospitals in Cuba.

On the Saudi side, the signing ceremony was attended by the Fund's Vice President and Managing Director Eng. Yousef Al-Bassam, Saudi Acting Charge D'affaires to Mexico Mohammed Al-Yahya, and members of the delegation accompanying the Finance Minister.

On the Cuban side, it was attended by Minister of Public Health Jose Cabrera, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Ramon Ripoll and a number of officials."

It's easier for Americans to get to Cuba then you might think. There are several points of departure – one of the best is Cancun, Mexico, offering daily flights to Havana.

With an abundance of tour operators willing to book airfare and hotel and arrange the special visa needed for Americans, it could not be easier for Americans to defy the State Department and visit one of the last true Communist countries. Prices range between $400 and $600 US for 3 night/4 day packages.

If you go, there are several things to be aware of. The country has been crumbling since the U.S. embargo began, and with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba has turned to tourism to keep its economy floating. Tourist from Europe and the Americas flock to Havana and the beaches in droves. Even with the lively tourist trade, basic accommodations are all one can expect. Shampoo, soap, aspirin and many other necessities are in short supply and may be hard to find – if not impossible. Consider yourself lucky if the shower has warm water and pressure. If the bed does not have springs popping, you've hit the jackpot.

The tourist areas of Havana are thriving with constant renovation. The city's architecture rivals Buenos Aires or many European cities (although not as well maintained). The true pleasures here are the cigars, rum, music and artwork. That's correct: the art in Cuba is thriving. These extraordinary artist have little chance of showing their work outside Cuba. The savvy tourist can pick up some true gems for as little as $30.00. For larger original works of art, you'll need to obtain a special permit to take it from the country.

Non-tourist areas are where life in Cuba shows its grit. With generations of the same family living in crumbling buildings, life can be difficult at best for the average Cuban. Fifty years of no paint or any repairs of significance have taken their toll. These areas are accessible to tourists, and any taxi driver will be happy to give you a tour. If you're lucky they may even take you inside for a glimpse of daily life – of course, a small tip will be expected.

With all these downsides, the tourist is considered king. The public has marching orders to do what they can to accommodate visitors. With indifferent friendliness, the Cubans do what they can to comply. Just don't expect too much and treat your host with dignity, and you'll be rewarded with a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Women Who Brave MobsCuba's Ladies in White are getting leaned on by Havana's toughs.

For more than a month, Cuba's Ladies in White have been getting leaned on. Castro's goons have taken to surrounding them after the women go to Mass in Havana and march for their loved ones in prison. Now Dania Virgen García is in prison.

She didn't have a loved-one in a Cuban jail when she began processing through the streets of Havana with the Ladies in White on Sundays. But she decided to join them in solidarity against the unjust imprisonment of husbands, fathers and brothers rounded up during the Black Spring of March 2003 and handed harsh sentences for speaking their consciences. She was one of a growing number of women there who call themselves "Ladies in Support."

On April 22 state security arrested the young blogger, and less than 48 hours later she received a prison sentence of one year and eight months. She has been sent to the country's largest maximum security prison for women, known commonly by Cubans as "the black veil." It's easy to guess why they call it that.

The regime's assaults on independent thinkers date back 51 years. But Ms. García's arrest is not without significance. It is the clearest sign to date of the regime's desperation in the face of popular discontent.

Ms. García is what Cubans call an independent journalist. Carmen Ferreiro, director of information and press for Human Rights Cuba based in Miami, says she met Ms. García online "toward the end of 2009" and helped her get her blog up and running. The two women exchanged emails. "This is how in a short time I came to know that Dania was very devoted to her Catholic faith, that she spoke affectionately about her family, that she enjoyed photography and struggled despite limited resources for human rights in Cuba."

Ms. Ferreiro reports that Ms. García knew she was under surveillance and explained the threat in an email: "Things in Cuba are not well at all, but I am going to continue this struggle to the death or until whatever they want happens; I will continue to support the Ladies in White, even if they continue to beat us, because what they want is for us to be afraid and we are not going to allow that to happen."

Though without Dania now, the Ladies in White surely will be walking in the face of an increasingly dangerous mob again this Sunday. The world might want to take notice.

Official returns from Cuba's municipal elections Sunday show an increase in null and blank votes, and a slight drop in turnout, that dissidents said reflect the growing disgruntlement on the island.

The National Electoral Commission reported Monday that 94.69 percent of voters had cast their ballots, with a preliminary tally of 4.33 percent of the votes declared null and 4.58 percent left blank.

Turnout in the 2007 municipal elections was reported at 95.44 percent. The highest turnout was registered in 1984 with 98.7 percent and the lowest was in 1976 with 95.2 percent, according to an EFE news agency report in 2007.

The 8.91 percent of null and blank votes in Sunday's balloting was higher than in three known previous elections -- 7 percent in the 1993 national legislative elections, 7.2 percent in the 1997 municipal elections, and 5.9 percent in the 2000 municipal elections, according to Jorge Dominguez, a Harvard University Cuba expert. Results for other elections were not available.

The twin changes, while relatively small, reflect Cubans' growing frustrations with their economic crisis and the sense that elections will not change systemic problems such as too much centralized control, corruption, and inefficiencies, dissidents said.

``This shows the state of disgust among all the people. There's a lot of cynicism,'' said dissident economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe.

Espinosa Chepe said the elections took place at an especially tough time, with rumors of massive layoffs sweeping the country and Raúl Castro's government clamping down on opposition movements like the Ladies in White.

``The economic situation is worse each day ... and there's a state of terror, of fear in the society,'' he said by telephone from Havana. ``People are only thinking of how to save themselves.''

Opposition member Hector Palacios said he wasn't surprised by the lower turnout figures and higher numbers for null and blank votes, because the lack of public enthusiasm for the election was visible everywhere.

``The elections were very cold. There was no interest,'' he said by telephone from Havana, adding, ``More than these numbers, you had to see the faces of the people (voting)'' to perceive the lack of enthusiasm.

Electoral commission President Ana María Mari Machado nevertheless portrayed the turnout Sunday as ``a forceful show for those who question the democracy in Cuba.''

Though voting is not mandatory in Cuba, turnout percentages are in the high 90s because members of the neighborhood-based Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and others pressure citizens to vote.

``By 10 in the morning they have already visited you twice to urge you to vote,'' Palacios said. Cubans who don't vote can be branded as dissidents and lose their jobs, he added.

Voters had no real choice among candidates who were mostly Communist Party members or strong government supporters, Palacios said.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

ALEJANDRO Robaina, Cuba's most revered tobacco grower, whose leaves wrap the country's finest Habano cigars, has died, apparently of cancer, at his home near San Luis. He was 91.

Robaina began working on his family's tobacco fields in western Cuba when he was aged 10, a year after he smoked his first cigar. He went on to achieve cult status among cigar smokers worldwide for the silken leaves that he produced on his 16-hectare plantation, Finca la Pina, in Cuchillas de Barbacoa. Their quality could be appreciated in top-of-the-line cigars such as Cohiba Esplendidos and Hoyo de Monterrey Double Coronas, renowned for their smoothness and richness.Advertisement: Story continues below

As his reputation grew, he became a roving ambassador for Cuban cigars, travelling around the world to represent Cuba's most admired export. When old age made travel inconvenient, he stayed put and the world came to him. Cigar lovers by the hundreds beat a path to tour the plantation, hoping to catch a glimpse of the old man or, perhaps, have him autograph a box of Vegas Robaina cigars, a brand created in his honour.

Robaina was born in Alquizar to a family that had been growing tobacco since 1845 in the Vuelta Abajo region, the cigar world's equivalent of Bordeaux or Burgundy.

He remained an independent grower after Fidel Castro came to power.

''He wanted me to join a co-operative, and I told him no - I would not do it and that I would remain working with my family,'' he told Cigar Aficionado magazine in 2006. ''At the end he has understood to the point that a lot of the land is now in the hands of small farmers.''

In the mid-1990s, when the Cuban government named him the country's best tobacco grower, Castro himself handed out the award. In 1997, Habanos, a joint venture between the Cuban government and Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group, created Vegas Robaina, making him the only Cuban grower to have a brand of cigars named after him. In Cuban Spanish, a vega is a tobacco field.

It is a somewhat curious honour, since experts find it hard to detect the presence of Robaina leaves in the product. ''Not only does it look rough, it smokes rough, too,'' wrote James Suckling, a writer for Cigar Aficionado, who visited Robaina many times over the years.

About 3 million Vegas Robainas are produced each year, packaged in a box whose lid shows Robaina holding a cigar, with his tobacco fields and a curing barn in the background.

Robaina discreetly sidestepped questions about his namesake product. At times he seemed mystified by it. But he remained confident about his leaves.

''I have made sure I have passed on my experience to my family so nothing strange will happen,'' he said. ''Everything will remain the same. So I can leave any minute. I am happy.''

In later years his tobacco operation was largely run by his grandson, Hiroshi, who survives him, as do four children, nine other grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.

Facing intense demand for housing, the communist government of President Raul Castro is granting permits that let Cubans build homes with their own resources, officials said Tuesday.

In communist Cuba, where the state runs the economy, home building until now has been a government affair.

Cuba, with 11.2 million people, has a severe housing shortage aggravated by three hurricanes that tore through the island two years ago, damaging half a million homes and causing 10 billion dollars in damage.

According to government figures more than half a million homes are needed.

The Cuban government announced in 2006 a goal of building 100,000 new homes a year, a target that eventually was cut in half.

Last year Castro authorized Cubans to "build your homes with whatever you can."

Cuba's Housing Institute has started granting "self-effort" building permits, the state-run Radio Rebelde said Tuesday.

The permits are to build new homes, or expand or repair existing homes, Institute president Roberto Vazquez said.

More than 80 percent of Cubans are homeowners, but by law cannot sell their homes. They can however swap them under a government system called the permuta.

Some building materials are sold in government run stores at subsidized prices, but most are sold in stores that only accept foreign currency.

It was not immediately clear how most Cubans, who make an average of about 20 dollars a month, might obtain supplies with which to build.

People who receive money sent back by family living abroad, a small minority, certainly look likely to benefit.

Average Cubans often turn to the black market and buy construction materials pilfered from government supplies or construction sites.

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 24 (acn) For the fifth week in a row, the number of H1N1 cases continues to grow throughout the country, said Dr. Otto Pelaez Sanchez, head of the Transmissible Diseases Department of the Cuban Public Health ministry.

Cuban News Agency

During this week, 93 new cases of Influenza A (H1N1) virus were confirmed by the National Influenza Virus Labs of the Tropical Medicine Institute Pedro Kouri, Granma reported on Saturday.

Based on the situation, people were called to strictly follow personal and collective hygiene measures indicated by health authorities and to visit the doctor as soon as any symptoms of flu appear.

In reference to the national vaccination campaign against the H1N1 virus to conclude on Tuesday, April 2, Dr. Pelaez Sanchez said 981,130 people (87.4 percent), selected based on risk factors, have received the shot. Of them78, 915 are either pregnant women or have given birth recently, representing 99.7 percent of the total.

Dr. Pelaez Sanchez said the people who have been vaccinated remain under strict watch so that they can receive immediate medical care in case of severe reactions, although no serious side-effects of the vaccine have been reported so far. Among minor adverse reactions are headaches, pain in the area of the shot, fever, tiredness and allergies.

HAVANA -- Nearly every eligible Cuban cast ballots in a vote the communist government proclaims is proof of the island's democracy. But if headlines were made, it was by six elderly women standing under an ancient ficus tree, enduring seven hours of insults and obscenities for demanding political prisoners be freed.

Cuba complains the foreign media makes way too much of a small, divided dissident movement that has little sway with ordinary people. But the government has helped draw attention to the women - known as the Damas de Blanco, or Ladies in White - by choosing, with no explanation, to start blocking their small weekly protests after seven years of tolerating them.

Wayne Smith, a former top American diplomat in Havana, said the unwanted attention began when the government decided to take a hard line.

"The Damas have been marching for a long time and it hasn't raised any problems" for the government, said Smith, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for International Policy who has long argued that the U.S. should lift its 48-year trade embargo on Cuba. "Suddenly, when the Cubans say, 'You can't march,' then there's a story. Then the press comes out."

Indeed, after years of obscurity, the women have become a cause celebre among Cuban-American exiles in the United States. The move to quash their protests has many in Washington wondering if Havana is trying to scuttle relations that seemed on the mend just months ago.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said this month that Fidel and Raul Castro could be creating a crisis because they don't want America to drop the embargo, which she said gives them a convenient excuse for their revolution's failures.

Ricardo Alarcon, head of Cuba's parliament, scoffed at the notion on Sunday.

"Mrs. Clinton is a very intelligent woman and I don't want to be rude with her," Alarcon said. "If she really believes the continuation of the embargo is in the benefit of our government, it's very simple for her to ask Congress to lift the embargo."

Alarcon, the highest ranking Cuban official to respond to Clinton, made his comments as he voted in nationwide municipal elections that the government says are the most democratic in the world.

There are secret ballots in which Cubans can choose between more than one candidate, and preliminary results announced Monday showed that nearly 95 percent of eligible voters took part. The government says the vote contradicts the Washington-driven image of Cuba as a single-party totalitarian state.

"These elections reaffirm that our people will never surrender and will never sell out," said a headline in the state-weekly newspaper Trabajadores, or Workers, on Monday.

But few outside Cuba took notice of the vote. There was no debate on policy and the results were never in doubt. While candidates did not have to be members of the Communist Party, most were in good standing with authorities and the outcome means little politically.

Even Fidel Castro made no comment on the election in a lengthy essay published shortly after the polls closed that railed against American military designs. The 83-year-old, who stepped down as president in 2008, voted in abstentia and did not appear publicly.

For the media, the real drama was elsewhere, in a shady park in an upscale neighborhood of Havana, where the Ladies in White stood without food or bathroom breaks through hour after hour of earsplitting harassment.

The group has demonstrated every Sunday since their husbands and sons were arrested in a March 2003 crackdown. Their marches, down a leafy boulevard called Quinta Avenida, used to draw little coverage and only a smattering of curious onlookers. State security kept watch from afar but rarely intervened. Usually, fewer than 10 protesters have shown up.

But the death of a jailed dissident hunger striker in February shined a new spotlight on Cuba's human rights record. The women marched for seven days in a row in different parts of the city in March. Cameras were there to show them roughly bundled onto a bus at one of the events.

That prompted sympathy protests led by Cuban-American pop icon Gloria Estefan in Miami and actor Andy Garcia in Los Angeles. Cuban officials bristled, denouncing what they saw as a global campaign to discredit the revolution. On April 11, officials informed the women the protests would no longer be tolerated.

That afternoon, dozens of pro-government counter-protesters were waiting outside Santa Rita de Casia Church, where the Damas celebrate Mass. When the women tried to march, security officials put them on a bus and took them home.

Similar conflicts have been repeated the next two weekends - with counter-protesters hurling abuse at the women for hours before they were put onto a bus. The counter-protests are not violent, though they are intimidating.

On Sunday - the day of the municipal vote - the six Damas who turned up moved to the shade of a huge ficus tree, its trunk as large as a car and with vines hanging from its branches taking root in the soil below. They stood there for seven hours as government supporters shuttled in and out in shifts to shout at them.

This time, scores of foreign journalists were there to watch, even if Cubans who happened past paid little attention, some playing baseball, oblivious to the disturbance nearby.

Juana Gomez, who joined the Damas in sympathy but is not a relative of one of the original 2003 political prisoners, told The Associated Press the women would continue to march "come what may."

She said she thinks authorities picked a confrontation with the Damas to sabotage any chance for improved relations with the United States.

"Better relations aren't at all convenient for them," she said. "What they want is to be in the same fight as they've been in for 50 years."

WASHINGTON -- Admitted spies Walter and Gwendolyn Myers have met with federal officials 50 to 60 times to divulge details of their three decades of spying for Cuba, Justice Department officials said Tuesday.

The Washington couple pleaded guilty in November to sending secrets to the United States' longtime antagonist, agreeing to cooperate with the federal government in a deal that offered Gwendolyn Myers a much lighter sentence than she might have faced otherwise.

Walter Myers - a former State Department employee with top-secret clearance - agreed to a life sentence without parole. Gwendolyn Myers could have faced as much as 20 years in prison, but under the plea deal, she might serve six to seven-and-a-half years.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton on Tuesday set a sentencing date for July 16. The couple have asked Walton to place them in prisons as close together as possible.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Michael Harvey told Walton that the government had expected the "debriefings" with the couple to take six months, and that investigators were "still on track" and expected to finish the talks in 30 to 40 days.

The couple appeared in Walton's courtroom Tuesday for the first time in months. They were in seemingly good spirits, clad in dark blue jail jumpsuits and long-sleeved white shirts. They didn't address the court. They had said in November - through a lawyer - that they'd acted "not out of selfish motive or hope of personal gain, but out of conscience and personal commitment."

They have agreed to pay the government about $1.7 million, the salary that Walter Myers earned while he worked at the State Department. They'll forfeit their Washington apartment, a 37-foot sailboat, a vehicle, and various bank and investment accounts.

They were charged last June with wire fraud, serving as illegal agents for Cuba and conspiring to deliver classified information. Walter Myers pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and two counts of wire fraud. The espionage charge could carry a death sentence, but prosecutors did not seek one.

HAVANA, Cuba, April 27 (Ana Aguililla /Cambio Debate Cuba / www.cubanet.org) - A captain in the National Revolutionary Police force has been accused of selling pedicabs he confiscated from unlicensed owners.

According to Eleuterio Cortés Noroña, who lives in the coastal Havana district of Santa Fe, the captain, named Darbis, was under investigation for abuse of power.

Cortés Noroña said two pedicabs seized by Darbis in Santa Fe turned up in nearby Punta Brava, where they had been sold. He also said the captain was queried about a house he was building.

The attackers wore brass knuckles to Catholic Mass and carried a steel bar wrapped in a newspaper.

"They hit the hell out of me," said Marcos Moro, who fled Cuba in 1961 after he was brutally beaten in church. "My father-in-law told me, 'You have to run. Forget about change.'"

More painful than the blows to his head: One of the assailants was his cousin's husband.

"It's difficult to find a family that's not been divided," said Moro, who today lives in Indio.

He hasn't been back to Cuba except for an unsuccessful attempt to smuggle out his family in 1965.

Moro came to the U.S. with a silver dollar in his pocket, a bottle of rum and box of Cuban cigars.

His father said, "Son, sell it. Get political asylum."

Since 1959, Cubans have fled their country in waves on homemade rafts, falsified visas and direct flights.

An estimated 500,000 Cubans who now live in the U.S. have fled Cuba since Fidel Castro came into power, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that conducts research on Latinos and their impact. The majority live in Florida, but about 70,000 live in California.

Moro said he hopes to return one day to a Castro-free Cuba.

"I have a strong pain in my soul," Moro said. "I miss my country now more than 50 years ago. I would like to see them free."

Many Cubans share his sentiment, especially since the Cuban police broke up a peaceful protest in March by a group of women known as Las Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White). Some media reports say the women were beaten by police.

Las Damas de Blanco are the wives of political dissidents imprisoned in a government crackdown in 2003. More than 50 of the detainees were journalists and human right activists and remain imprisoned, according to Amnesty International.

Cubans had high hopes that the president's younger brother, Raúl Castro, would dismantle the dictatorship when he assumed power two years ago.

Political pundits say that's highly unlikely now.

"I think there was the hope when Raúl first took over, but we haven't seen any major policy shifts," said Benjamin Bishin, a UCR political science professor whose area of study focuses on Cuban-American policy.

"I don't think there's much reason to think they are going to change."

Dr. Denio Fonseca, a Miami physician and organizer, said there are plans for more demonstrations.

"We plan to be in Cuba this year," he said.

Daisy and Marcos Moro, who travel to Miami once a year to be closer to Cuba, are trusting he's right.

"It's just a timing thing," Daisy Moro said. "People are tired and they want change. It's been 51 years."

HOLGUÍN, Cuba, April 26 (Redacción Candonga, www.cubanet.org ).- Independent journalist Yosvani Anzardo Hernández was arrested over the weekend by two State Security agents and his whereabouts are unknown, according to his wife.

Lourdes María Yen Rodríguez said the agents came to their home Saturday with an order for Anzardo's arrest. She said their car bore Havana license plates.

Anzardo, director of the online Periódico Candonga, was arrested on September 10, 2009, and held for 15 days. At that time, police seized electronic equipment he used for his digital newspaper.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez dismissed a retired general's warnings about a growing Cuban presence in Venezuela's military, accusing the officer Sunday of helping opponents portray his government a pawn of Fidel Castro.

Former Brig. Gen. Antonio Rivero has denounced a widespread involvement of Cuban troops in the military.

Chavez made no denials on that point, saying that Cubans are merely aiding soldiers in a limited capacity, and he defended his government's increasingly close cooperation with communist-led Cuba.

"What Cubanization? The Cubans are helping us here," Chavez said during his television and radio program, "Hello President."

"They're telling us how to store compasses, how to repair radios inside tanks and how to stockpile ammunition," Chavez said of the Cubans' activities.

Chavez said he suspected Rivero was making inroads with opposition groups long before he retired, saying the former officer speaks with "the same voice of the enemy."

"He was already among bad company," Chavez said.

Opposition leaders and other critics have long accused Chavez of allowing Cuban advisers and operatives to hold key positions in the military and state institutions, but have failed to produce concrete evidence of their allegations.

Rivero's detailed descriptions of Cuban involvement and his high standing in military circles have added new credibility to the concerns.

Rivero has said he retired from the army this month after 25 years of service, mainly because of "the presence and meddling of Cuban soldiers" in the armed forces. The former Chavez ally said he witnessed Cubans training Venezuelan troops during his last assignment as an infantry commander.

In televised remarks Thursday, he said Cubans currently train Venezuelan troops, including courses for snipers, and are also playing a role in intelligence, weapons, communications and other strategic areas.

He also has denounced the politicization of the military, including the slogan that soldiers now repeat when saluting: "Socialist homeland or death!" He has condemned Chavez's enlistment of supporters in a growing civilian militia.

Rivero told the Globovision television channel Sunday that intelligence agents have been spying on him since he denounced the Cuban presence in the military, taking photographs of his home and questioning his neighbors. He called the actions "part of the consequences" of criticizing the government and expressed concern for the safety of his family.

Chavez, a former paratroop commander, has made Cuba his closest ally since he took office in 1999. The president frequently visits Fidel Castro, calling him a mentor, but he rejects allegations that Cuba's communist leaders hold sway over his plans to transform Venezuela into a socialist state.

Venezuela has become a key economic benefactor to Cuba, sending the island oil on preferential terms in exchange for the services of thousands of Cuban doctors, whose work in free clinics has helped boost Chavez's political support among the poor.

Chavez turned to Cuba this year for help in tackling Venezuela's energy crisis. His allies in Havana responded by dispatching Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdes to lead a team responsible for revamping the South American country's electricity grid.

During Sunday's program, Chavez also announced a 40 percent pay raise for soldiers of every rank - a move that could bolster loyalty to "El Comandante" within the military ahead of congressional elections in September while the country struggles with 26 percent inflation.

"Boys, we're going to increase salaries by 40 percent for all the ranks," he said.

HAVANA -- A small group of carefully choreographed government supporters shouted down an even smaller contingent of wives and mothers of jailed opposition activists Sunday, preventing their traditional march for the third straight week in another ugly confrontation that may be becoming a Cuban weekend tradition.

After seven years of peaceful protests following Mass in Havana's upscale Miramar neighborhood, Cuba has begun blocking the "Ladies in White" from marching since the group never obtained written permission to do so.

Officials first broke up their demonstration on April 11, with a pro-government mob and buses that eventually gave the women a ride home. The following Sunday, counter-demonstrators surrounded the "Women in White," refused to let them march and shouted insults in an hourslong standoff that ended with the women again being driven home.

This time, six members - down from nine last week - left the Santa Rita de Casia Church and crossed swank Fifth Avenue to hold their demonstration on a sidewalk that runs down the middle of the boulevard. A state agent in a Che Guevara T-shirt said they couldn't march and Laura Pollan, one of the group's founders, tried to respond.

But the agent turned and walked away and that cued two waiting groups of about 50 counter-protesters each who came up the sidewalk from both directions hoisting large Cuban flags. The women marched until they ran into one group, then retraced their steps until meeting the other.

They shouted "Freedom!" and held skyward the pink gladiolas they always carry. The counter- protesters surrounded them and shouted "Fidel! Fidel!" Muscular state security agents with earpieces wedged themselves in between the dueling protests to prevent violence.

Organizers in plainclothes moved through the counter-demonstrators suggesting chants. When they called for a song with a refrain "How Lovely is Cuba," the counter-demonstrators sang it repeatedly, jumping up and down.

The "Ladies in White" were jostled off the sidewalk and pinned near the entrance to the church's front yard. Shoving ensued and pro-government demonstrators grabbed their gladiolas and tore them up.

The women then moved to a nearby park, under trees that provided shade from the boiling sun. They remained there for hours, some of them holding only the green stubs of their flowers.

Also Sunday, Ricardo Alarcon, head of Cuba's parliament, became the first top official to respond to an assertion by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, that Fidel and Raul Castro don't want Washington's 48-year embargo lifted because they would no longer be able to blame America for their country's problems.

"Mrs. Clinton is a very intelligent woman and I don't want to be rude with her," Alarcon said. "If she really believes the continuation of the embargo is in the benefit of our government, it's very simple for her to ask Congress to lift the embargo."

He also suggested Washington suspend its trade restrictions for one year to see what happens.

On April 9, Clinton said, "It is my personal belief that the Castros do not want to see an end to the embargo and do not want to see normalization with the United States because they would lose all of their excuses for what hasn't happened in Cuba in the last 50 years."

Members of the "Women in White" are relatives of 75 opposition activists arrested in a 2003 crackdown on dissent, but Cuba claims they are agents of Washington out to destabilize government.

During Sunday's protest, Miriam Leiva, a "Ladies in White" founder who stopped marching in 2008, showed up to watch from afar. Because she was wearing green, not all white, no one knew to shout at her.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Once illegal gadget is now ubiquitous, despite prohibitive costs, and is loosening the regime's grip on information

Roberto Machado tapped his pocket with a smile and with some ceremony fished out the phone: a Sony Ericsson, vintage 2003. For its new owner this was no clunky relic. It was beautiful.

Machado, a 31-year-old artist, recently received it from an aunt in Spain and was enchanted. "I love it. I tell you, with this life isn't the same."

The age of the mobile phone has reached Cuba. Since being legalised by the communist government the phones, once a forbidden badge of foreign consumerism, have become a ubiquitous sight across the island.

Clipped to belts, worn around necks, endlessly fiddled with, you see them everywhere. There is, however, a Cuban twist: very few use the phone to talk.

Machado looked aghast at the idea. "Speak? As in a conversation? Never. Not once. You would have to be crazy or desperate." Calls are too expensive so the phones are used as pagers. Instead of answering, Cubans note the incoming number and call back from a landline.

Such are the calculations wrought by an impoverished, centrally planned economy where the average monthly wage is $20 (£13). Calls between mobile phones cost 65 cents a minute, and slightly more from a mobile to a landline. Even texting, at 17 cents a message, is considered pricey. A minute-long call to Europe costs $5.85.

It takes enormous sacrifice – or a foreign benefactor – for Cubans to afford the $60 handset sold in government stores and a further $50 to activate the line with Etecsa, the state telephone company. Even so, there is always a queue outside Etecsa's store on Obispo street in Havana. Many are youths in sunglasses and designer jeans – part of a generation as obsessed by brands as their western peers. "We're catching up," said Miguel, a 19-year-old.

All in the queue – faces pressed against the store window – appeared giddy at the prospect of imminent cellular connection. "They've been waiting for this a long time," said a uniformed guard at the shop entrance.

Cuba still has the lowest mobile phone use in Latin America but the number is rising fast, with 480,000 handsets for 11.2 million people, according to officials.

On one level this represents success for President Raúl Castro's promise to ease the hardships and petty restrictions which stoke resentment among Cubans at the 51-year-old revolution. Bans on DVDs and computers have also been lifted.

From the government's viewpoint, however, there is a catch. These consumer goods fan a different, rival revolution – in information. Cubans yearn for news other than state media propaganda. "I'm sick of being treated like a 10-year-old who lives on another planet," one tourism worker put it.

A gossip grapevine nicknamed Radio Bemba (Radio Lip) is the traditional way to supplement official information. The new gadgets – phone cameras, flashcards, DVDs and the occasional internet link – are now multiplying that informal network. The state monopoly over news is history.

"Even if it is not always immediately visible the arrival of new technology brings changes which bubble under the surface," said Brian Latell, a former CIA analyst and Cuba expert at the University of Miami.

Cubans are better informed than ever before, said Ruben Polanco, 29, an IT worker with a state bank. "With this," he said, indicating the camera on his Motorola phone, "the truth gets out."

Three recent examples show the technology's impact. Last month a baseball game between Industriales and Sancti Spíritus turned into a riot. Police waded into players and spectators – including a communist party chief – with batons and pepper spray. In the past the incident would have been the stuff of rumour, at most, but this time the brawl was captured on mobile phones, loaded on to flashcards, played on computers and DVD players across the island and uploaded to YouTube. "Everyone was talking about it, saying did you see the guy in the headlock," said Polanco.

Another clandestine video hit was a protest at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana where dozens of students protested over foul food and other grievances.

A third case has fuelled anger over a scandal at the main psychiatric hospital where at least 26 patients died during freezing weather in January. The authorities admitted a blunder, promised an investigation and hoped to move on. Instead, autopsy photographs showing emaciated, apparently bruised corpses were leaked. "It's one thing to hear and another to actually see," said Antonio Gonzalez-Rodiles, 37, a scientist who received the images on a flashcard. "The bodies were skin and bone, like something out of a concentration camp. It's really, really upsetting."

Unlike in Burma, Iran and other countries with repressive regimes, Cuba remains calm and stable. There are no uprisings, no mass demonstrations, so information technology poses no immediate risk to the government.

Over time, however, the technology is likely to present an increasingly fraught challenge. The sea still surrounds it, but Cuba is ever less an island.

Bloggers critical of the government, such as Yoani Sanchez, have attracted wide followings overseas and admirers at home, despite internet restrictions. Secret police have struggled to winkle out satellite TV dishes hidden in water tanks, among other places.

Cuba's government retains formidable control but a battle with information technology is likely to be a battle lost, said Dianna Melrose, the British ambassador in Havana. "They are trying to do a King Canute, they are fighting an impossible tide."

BEIJING -- Senior Chinese and Cuban military officials held talks here on Sunday, pledging to work together to promote relations between the two armed forces.

China was ready to deepen exchanges and cooperation with Cuba's armed forces, said Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army.

During the talks with Alvaro Lopez Miera, vice minister and chief of the General Staff of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces, Chen hailed the sound communication and exchange of visits between military leaders of the two countries, saying it guaranteed a smooth development of Sino-Cuban military exchanges and cooperation.

"We always value the China-Cuba traditional friendship, and attach great importance to the development of bilateral ties," he said.

Lopez said Cuba was ready to make joint efforts with China to maintain the development of the relations between the two countries and militaries.

Starting the China tour on Saturday, Lopez is scheduled to conclude the official goodwill on April 29.

HAVANA (AFP) – Cuba challenged the United States Sunday to lift a decades-old trade embargo "even for a year" to test its contention that the island's leaders do not want the embargo lifted or normal relations with Washington.

The challenge by National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcon was the first official response to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's April 9 charge that Fidel Castro and his brother President Raul Castro do not want a transition to democracy or the restoration of US relations severed in 1961.

Clinton told a university audience in Kentucky that the Castros "do not want to see an end to the embargo and do not want to see normalization with the United States because they would then lose all their excuses for what hasn't happened in Cuba in the last 50 years."

Alarcon, speaking to reporters after casting his ballot in municipal elections here, said, "If she really thinks that the blockade benefits the Cuban government -- which she wants to undermine -- the solution is very simple: that they lift it even for a year to see whether it is in our interest or theirs."

Alarcon said there were things Clinton could do "with a stroke of the pen" to improve relations, such as allowing visits by the wives of two of five Cubans serving prison sentences in the United States for espionage.

President Barack Obama came into office seeking better relations with Cuba, but after an initial thaw, tensions have set in again, most recently over Cuba's treatment of dissidents.

Havana has accused Washington of waging a campaign to destabilize the government. But it has come under fire internationally and from activists inside Cuba since the February 12 death of dissident Orlando Zapata in a prison hunger strike. A second dissident, Guillermo Farinas, took up the hunger strike after Zapata's death.

The government has portrayed the municipal elections, which have been held every two years since 1976, as evidence of public support for the one-party state.

Although the Cuban Communist Party does not officially field candidates, it supervises the process and ensures that no opponents of the government are elected.

Turnout in previous elections have been as high as 95 percent, which the authorities tout as a "victory of the Revolution."

HAVANA -- Cuba held elections to fill municipal assemblies across the island on Sunday in a vote the communist government says belies criticism in Washington and Europe that Fidel Castro's half-century old revolution is not democratic.

Almost all of Cuba's 8.4 million eligible voters were expected to turn out for the vote - which will choose 15,000 people to fill seats in 169 municipal assemblies.

Those elected won't be dealing with big geopolitical issues such as how to thaw frozen relations with the United States, or what measures must be taken to revitalize a near-dormant economy. Instead, they will be the first point of contact most Cubans have with their government, the person to see if electricity service is spotty or if the neighbors are making too much noise.

The municipal assemblies also have some role in electing those who will fill more important bodies including the regional assemblies and the national parliament, which in turn decides who will serve on the Council of State, Cuba's supreme governing body.

As president, Raul Castro is head of the Council of State. His brother Fidel, who stepped down permanently in 2008 after an undisclosed illness, remains leader of the Communist Party.

Lenia Rojas, a 44-year-old office worker who cast a ballot in the Havana municipality of Playa, said she voted because she wanted a say in picking the elected officials who will have the greatest immediate effect on her life.

"These municipal delegates are close to the people. They are the ones that we really have access to in order to resolve - or at least try to resolve - some of our problems," she said.

Others were less enthusiastic.

"The truth is that I didn't mark my ballot for any of the candidates so my vote is null. I don't believe in this. I don't think that they are going to make anything better," said Orlando, a 53-year-old man leaving a polling station in Havana. He refused to give his last name for fear of reprisals, saying: "I only voted because I didn't want to give myself away."

Cuba's leaders have charged that the international news media ignore the local voting as part of a global campaign to discredit the revolution. They say their system is, in fact, the most democratic in the world because it requires participation on a block-by-block level and is not influenced by money.

Critics say the elections are window-dressing since all real power is concentrated in the hands of the Castros and an aging cadre of revolutionaries who have been with them since they overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

Raul Castro cast his ballot in Havana's Vedado neighborhood. It was not clear whether Fidel would also venture out to a polling station. In 2007, the last time elections were held, a ballot box was brought to the ailing revolutionary so that he could vote.

Fidel, 83, has looked strong and alert in recent video released by the government, but he has not been seen in public in nearly four years.

Candidates in Sunday's vote are nominated by a show of hands at gatherings organized by the local government. Committees for the Defense of the Revolution - or CDRs - neighborhood watch groups charged with keeping close tabs on their areas and with reporting seditious activity, help get people out to the gatherings.

While candidates do not need to be members of the Communist Party, the vast majority are in good standing with local authorities. The nomination process is done by a show of hands, but a committee must approve each candidate in order for their names to get on the ballot.

Campaigning is outlawed in Cuba, so voters learn about the candidates based either on word of mouth in the community or through a resume and photograph pasted onto the walls of voting centers.

As in other countries, each voter places a check mark by the name of the candidate they want, and the balloting is secret. While participation is not mandatory, it is strongly encouraged. The government has stopped at nothing in its get-out-the-vote drive, even enlisting hundreds of carrier pigeons to take news of the vote to villages in mountainous areas and other remote places, according to Cuba's official news agency, Prensa Latina.

Cubans 16 years of age or older can vote, and even younger schoolchildren play a role. Each ballot box is "guarded" by two children dressed in their school uniforms. In 2007, the last time municipal elections were held, turnout topped 95 percent.

Results were expected Monday. A run-off to decide elections in which no candidate received at least 50 percent of the vote will be held on May 2.

Fariñas Slams Cuba Local Elections as "Farce" after 60 Days of Hunger Strike

HAVANA – Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas, who completed 60 days of his hunger strike on Saturday, called the local elections to be held Sunday on the island "a big farce," and said that he will vote against "the Castro dynasty" if he is sent a ballot.

"There's no such thing as a free nomination. It has to be in your neighborhood with a show of hands (an allusion to the way candidates are designated), and nobody wants to be identified to this regime of terror," said Fariñas in a telephone conversation from the intensive care unit where he is hospitalized in the central city of Santa Clara.

The dissident recalled that Cuban electoral regulations state that ballots must be sent to sick people who are lucid, and said he was waiting to see what decision state security will take in his case.

"If they bring me a ballot, what I'll do is put: Down with the dynasty of the Castro brothers (Fidel and Raul), my signature and my ID number," said Fariñas, who was admitted to hospital in mid-March after twice collapsing from hunger.

"If they don't dare bring it to me, I'll just be one more of those who didn't go to vote," he said.

In Sunday's voting, some 8.4 million Cubans over 16 years of age are eligible to vote for more than 15,000 delegates (councilors) of the island's 169 municipal assemblies, in a process that is repeated every two years.

About his health, Fariñas said that upon completing two months of fasting he feels "a little down, with headaches and joint pain," but said that he will continue "the hunger strike to the last consequences."

"I think that with what is going on, we can't do anything but keep up the hunger strike," he said, adding that "without doing anything violent" he has managed to do "harm to the government."

"In these 60 days a phenomenon has taken place that we didn't really expect, which is that international public opinion is once more studying and evaluating what is happening with human rights and inside jails in Cuba," he said.

The psychologist and journalist, 48, began his hunger strike in his home last Feb. 24 after the death of dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo following an 85-day fast demanding that Cuba's president, Gen. Raul Castro, release 26 ailing members of the opposition.

Fariñas said international reaction has included "political groups of the left," which in his opinion has caused "tremendous grief to the Cuban government."

"I believe this is also a victory for the entire Cuban opposition and for Cubans in exile," he said.

Earlier this week, Archbishop of Havana Jaime Ortega argued in favor of a more "conciliatory attitude" by Fariñas, whom he urged to end his protest.

"Now is not the time to incite passions," Ortega said, adding that what is also "painful" are the mobs insulting the mothers and wives of several prisoners, especially the Ladies in White, who in the last few weeks have been repeatedly harassed by supporters of President Raul Castro's government.

Cuba is "in a difficult situation, certainly the most difficult" that it has experienced in the 21st century, Ortega said, citing the global economic crisis, the losses caused by three hurricanes in recent years and the U.S. trade embargo.

These problems "come on top of Cuba's perennial economic difficulties caused by the limitations of the kind of socialism practiced here and that at times give us a very gloomy outlook," Ortega said.